At the end of last season, Hobey Baker finalist Zach Parise decided that his goal-scorer’s touch better matched a New Jersey Devils uniform than North Dakota green. Immediately, Parise left his brother, goaltender Jordan, with a huge question — who would provide the offensive support that he needed? The Fighting Sioux had plenty of answers. … Read more
The North Dakota Fighting Sioux have endured a season that began with defections to the NHL and was followed by a plague of injuries, bad breaks and bad bounces. As difficult as the season has been, nobody was prepared for what happened last Friday during the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul. UND’s players and … Read more
North Dakota sophomore defenseman Robbie Bina underwent surgery Monday morning at Regions Medical Center in St. Paul to repair a shattered vertebra in his neck suffered last Friday during the WCHA Final Five. In a statement released through UND, the Bina family said Dr. Daryll Dykes performed the surgery, which lasted from 8:20 a.m. to … Read more
North Dakota forward Robbie Bina, who was injured on a check from behind in Friday’s WCHA Final Five semifinal game against Denver, has a broken neck that may end his hockey career, sources indicated Saturday. Bina’s neck injury is being monitored by neurosurgeons at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, his mother Rose said in a … Read more
Having to play three games in three days isn’t exactly a recipe for success. That’s the task that faces one WCHA team every year, once the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds meet in Thursday’s play-in game at the Final Five. For the winner, a semifinal matchup follows the next day, and then a game … Read more
North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol announced Wednesday that Fighting Sioux junior defenseman Matt Greene has been suspended for two games for breaking team rules after being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Warroad, Minn. Hakstol said Greene would miss Friday and Saturday’s home games against Bemidji State, and added that he would have no … Read more
Drew Stafford’s second trip to the World Juniors didn’t end as happily as his first, but the UND sophomore gained from the experience.
UND’s Rastislav Spirko is making the transition to a new team — not to mention a new continent — look easy.
So many of college hockey’s great rivalries are, as one might expect, conference battles: BC-BU, Michigan-Michigan State, Harvard-Cornell, etc. But, as we’ll see this week on CSTV’s Friday Night Hockey, it doesn’t have to always be that way. Just take a look at the two teams we’ll see this week, North Dakota and Boston College. … Read more
There are those who believe that the best way to learn to swim is to be thrown into a lake. By the same token, two top-five teams will take the plunge on Friday night, as No. 5 North Dakota visits No. 2 Maine. There is truly no better way to kick off CSTV’s Friday Night … Read more
Minnesota-Duluth is the coaches’ preseason pick to win the WCHA, while Wisconsin goaltender Bernd Brückler topped voting for preseason player of the year honors. The coaches poll, conducted by the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, put the Bulldogs atop the rankings for the first time. UMD, which returns 73.5 percent of its scoring from last year’s … Read more
Let’s get this straight: North Dakota’s question mark early in the season is offense? Maybe that tells exactly how thin the questions surrounding the Sioux are. The early departures of Brandon Bochenski took a bite out of the offense, but UND returns seven players who scored 10 or more goals last season. Only Minnesota-Duluth matches … Read more
Brandon Bochenski, a 2004 Hobey Baker Award finalist, made it official yesterday, telling his coaches he is leaving school with the intention of soon signing with the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. USCHO reported in late July that Bochenski was planning to leave school. Bochenski, who would have been a senior at UND next season, was a … Read more
North Dakota forward Brandon Bochenski, one of the nation’s leading scorers the past two seasons and a Hobey Baker finalist last season, will likely sign with the Ottawa Senators of the NHL this week, according to former Fighting Sioux head coach Dean Blais. (photo: Patrick C. Miller) Bochenski, who would have been a senior at … Read more
It’s never easy replacing a two-time national champion coach at a prominent program.
What little suspense remained as to who would succeed Dean Blais as North Dakota’s head coach ended Friday when Dave Hakstol became the 15th head coach in the program’s 58-year history.
University of North Dakota athletic director Roger Thomas says that he’s talked to potential head coach candidates outside of UND and has not ruled out the possibility of hiring one of them. “There are certainly great coaches out there and there are [Sioux] alumni coaches who have an interest,” Thomas said. “There’s also great passion … Read more
North Dakota will stay within the family and appoint Dave Hakstol its head coach, a newspaper reports. Hakstol, currently the team’s interim head coach after the departure of Dean Blais, will be given the full title as early as next week, the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald reported in a story in Thursday’s editions, quoting an … Read more
North Dakota has decided to start its search for a new head coach within the university, giving interim head coach Dave Hakstol the inside track for the job. The school had been deciding between whether to start the search internally, or open it nation wide. The job opening has since been posted on the school’s … Read more
No one seemed too alarmed at Day 1 of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft about the departure of Dean Blais from North Dakota — not current Sioux first rounder Drew Stafford, incoming Sioux first-rounder Travis Zajac, or the general manager of the New Jersey Devils, Lou Lamoriello, who once again took a Sioux player in … Read more